New role for Ferda

New numbers at hospital

SHE’S just walked off the stage from a starring role in Annie – and now Ferda the dog is preparing for a very different performance.

The eight-year-old husky wowed crowds at the Kings Theatre, Southsea, with her debut acting role at Christmas. But her full-time job is leading a pack of five other racing huskies – who together make up Finnegan’s Huskies – at race events across the UK.

Her skills are so well refined that she’s been asked to perform a display of how the race dogs are trained at the Heavy Horse and Working Animals Show, in the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum, near Chichester.

Owner Hugh Finnegan, 71, of Main Road, Southbourne, said: ‘She’s always been a natural lead dog, and she’s won a lot of races. But she’s a great performer too. I was so proud.’